Chris Mason occasionally sports a breathtaking beard, but his netminding was downright hairy during the 2013 season.

With that in mind, Nashville Predators GM David Poile told the Tennessean that the team will look for a different backup behind $7 million starter Pekka Rinne for the 2013-14 campaign.

(More precisely, Poile said the team “might, maybe and in all probability will be looking to see what’s available,” which is a very David Poile way of saying such things.)

Rinne’s first season as one of the NHL’s richest netminders was disappointing, with a 15-16-8 record and a .910 save percentage (compared to his .920 career average). Still, his numbers look fantastic compared to Mason’s 1-7-1 record and abysmal .878 save percentage.

Those stats make it tough to fathom the 37-year-old playing in the NHL next season, but at minimum, he probably won’t be with the Predators.

The crop of backups isn’t too promising, with Jose Theodore, Mathieu Garon, Ray Emery and Nikolai Khabibulin among the most notable potential targets.

Nashville might also turn to 22-year-old prospect Magnus Hellberg, although Poile said he’d rather give the big Swede another year to develop.

“That’s another thing we’re talking about within our organization too, is whether he’s had enough experience yet,” Poile said. “I think our druthers would be to see him play another full year down there (in Milwaukee) in terms of his development.”

Odds are high that the new guy’s numbers will look better either way, although few could top his facial hair.

Ellis, 32, told Alexander the two parties are “talking back and forth” about a new deal, but made it clear there was no offer on the table.

“[A] holding pattern,” is how Ellis described it, adding that he’d like to return for 2013-14.

The journeyman netminder signed in Carolina last season on a one-year, $800,000 deal, primarily to serve as a veteran backup to starter Cam Ward.

But things changed.

Ward suffered a season-ending knee injury in early March, forcing Ellis into the No. 1 gig. While he wasn’t terrible, the numbers reflect a goalie thrust into a position he probably wasn’t suited for, playing in front of a slumping team.

“It’s something you have to deal with and it puts a lot of things in perspective. This is difficult. It’s a tough one, but adversity makes you grow.’’

Boucher was relieved of his duties after an eventful two-and-a-half years on the job.

His first season couldn’t have gone much better — the Bolts finished with 103 points (23 more than the previous season) and came within a game of the Stanley Cup finals.

From there, though, things went south as both injuries and goaltending issues plagued the team.

Over the last two seasons, Vincent Lecavalier, Ryan Malone, Victor Hedman and Mattias Ohlund have all missed significant time and the revolving door of ineffective netminders — Dwayne Roloson, Mathieu Garon and, most recently, Anders Lindback — saw Tampa Bay win just 38 games last year and 13 this year before Boucher was replaced by AHL Syracuse head coach John Cooper.

Boucher alluded to both of these issues as reasons he was probably let go, but made no bones about it — that’s part of the business, adding he held no grudge against the man that fired him, GM Steve Yzerman.

“Steve and I had had a brief conversation that day and he said he wanted to make a change,’’ Boucher said. “We didn’t have any problems. We stuck together as a team and as a staff and made a lot happen.

“You can’t control injuries and you can’t control personnel that’s available and not available.’’

Boucher does leave Tampa with a solid resume-booster. He remains the franchise’s all-time leader in regular season winning percentage (.546) and playoff winning percentage (.611).